> [!tldr] A [[Pattern]] of approach
I'm pretty sure I have a note on this already, but I'm not finding it right now.
**Broad** - working *across* the domain
**Deep** - working *down* a path
An unavoidable [[Tradespace|tradeoff]]:
![[Breadth vs Depth 2026-07-13 19.23.44.excalidraw.svg]]
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## Examples
### Technical
- [[Graph Theory]] has a lot of "shortest path" algorithms, including the famous [[Dijkstra's Algorithm]].
### Non-technical
#### Specialist vs Generalist
You can be the master of a craft, or the jack of all trades - but you cannot be both. This shows up in my article on [[Ideal Exercise Regiment]]s.
![[assets/Image 7.jpg|https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLVT2CciUr6thq3QZO9qLtT48hHZK2tYE8U0t5kYK0-IeOfM-N_dlcZoP7WWrHNwcdGgJfp1QL2uXrmzi1wESExEmxM8y0pPdhaz0cgtBMXpHUeavObgQKdWLwQ0r04P-phoMqGAegRab4in8VBRUjBLHw=w750]]
#### Finding the Tape
Looking for some tape, which might be in the desk drawer, the craft closet, or in the office. Do you glance at all 3 first, or do you do an exhaustive search of the first one before moving onto the 2nd & 3rd?
#### Shoes & Socks
A weird example I thought of. Most people go *broad* when putting on their footwear. Sock ā sock ā shoe ā shoe. I recently switched to going sock ā shoe ā sock ā shoe. It's a tiny example of depth-first rather than breadth-first approaches.
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# More
## Source
- self